Subj: Collinwood 2001 Part Twenty Five
Date: 6/19/01 7:26:48 PM Central Daylight Time
From: N.E. Collins

The scream that Liz had not uttered when her aunt had grabbed her in the dark came forward now as she came face to face with an unknown male assailant. She kicked and screamed at him. She couldn't make out his face for the light was behind him. He grabbed her two hands in his and held them tightly together. He was shouting something at her, but she couldn't hear him for her own sobbing hysterical claims. Her voice finally gave up and she had to draw a ragged breath and that's when she heard him speak. "Ms. Stoddard! Ms. Stoddard! It's me! It's Matthew! Stop hitting me!"

Liz heard the words and her panic fled as she put the voice to the situation. She stopped her struggle and felt foolish for the way she had reacted. "Oh, Matthew. I am SO sorry. I can't tell you. I thought that some madman was on the property."

Matthew gave her a curious look. "What made ya think a thing like that?"

Liz rubbed her forehead to soothe herself. "I guess it's because of what Aunt Nora was going on and on about. I told myself that it was all nonsense, that she had just had a bad dream, but I guess that I kept the thread of a possibility in the back of my mind, and when I ran into you I just assumed the worst...Aunt Nora! Oh, Matthew, come quickly!" Liz dashed into the cottage with Matthew right behind.

The lights came back on at The Purple Cow. The crowd heaved a communal sigh of relief. The spotlights were not working properly and the sound system had suffered a setback so the show was essentially over, but Flip was able to provide some quiet jazz selections for the crowd gathered. The lights were lowered purposely again and the room glowed warmly with the glow of candles. Pepe had ordered a round of drinks for her patrons and she herself was making the rounds. She knew who greased the wheels of the community and so she began her hostess visit with the Collins' family table. Her gracious attentions were not lost on Burke Devlin's roving eye. "Would you just look at that. Boy, is she good at kissin' up, or what? Huh! Well, they better enjoy all this special treatment while they can because I am gonna blow the lid off their little rich world."

Carol Worsinski gave her date a troubled glance. "Why exactly do you hate the Collins' family so much, if you don't my asking?"

Burke answered Carol. "There are two reasons. Laura Collins and Roger Collins. Long story, short...she dumped me for him and he rubbed it in. Way in!"

Carol leaned in a gave Burke a peck on the cheek. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, but you're a hard man to read, Mr. Devlin. I kind of find it hard to believe that any woman could have hurt you that badly. You don't seem the type."

Burke ruffled up somewhat. "I used to be, but I'm not anymore. No sir. I am nobodys fool."

No sooner had Liz and Matthew entered the cottage than the lights started acting up. They didn't go out all the way. Instead they began to flicker irregularly and eerie shadows were cast on everything. Liz got to Aunt Nora who had calmed down considerably. "There, there now. Everything is going to be alright. Matthew is here and he knows a thing or two about first aid. He was in the merchant marines when he was a young man and they taught him all manner of things." Liz spoke to Nora as if she were a little girl.

Nora looked at her niece uncertainly. "Matthew? I don't know a Matthew."

Matthew accidently kicked a pillow on the floor. The same one that Liz had stumbled over earlier that same fateful evening. He reached down and picked it up and tried to read the embroidered writing in the flickering light of the bedside lamp. "Of course you know him, dear. He's worked for the family for years. I don't know what we would do without our Matthew."

Nora seemed to understand and remember who Matthew was when suddenly she saw him standing there behind Liz. She saw the indistinct figure of a man in the light and then in the dark and back to light and dark again. She remembered the menacing shadow figure who had come silently towards her with a pillow. And this man was holding that pillow. It was the same pillow. The same. So, he must be the same too! She cried out painfully and moved faster than Liz could have expected. Nora Collins was up on her feet when she fell forcefully back down again on the floor! She grabbed at her arm and wailed a sorrowful sound and then she lost conciousness. It all happened so fast that there was nothing that Liz could have done to prevent it. Liz was beside herself. "MATTHEW! MATTHEW, RUN! Run to Collinwood and get some help!! HURRY, Matthew! Please, HURRY! HURRY!"

Matthew didn't question his mistress. He was off like a bolt of lightning. Liz reached over to gently stroke Nora's brow, but a piercing pain shot through her own. She reeled back and frightfully held her hands to her head as she rocked back and forth on the floor. Then she stopped and she looked quite different than herself. And she sang a song and it did not sound like her. "Playmate, come out and play with me. Climb up my apple tree. I'll bring my dollies three. Shout down my rainbarrel. Slide down my cellar door. And we'll be happy friends for ever more." She sounded like a little girl. A little girl alone. The lights went out again.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.